Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon decided Wednesday to construct an overland gas pipeline to transport Egyptian gas to the three other countries and Turkey, reported AFP.

It said the decision was made during a meeting of the countries' prime ministers on the sidelines of a ceremony inaugurating a Jordanian-Syrian electricity link-up project.

"The land route was chosen during the meeting, sending gas from el-Arish, Egypt, to Aqaba, Jordan, and then to Syria, Lebanon and Turkey," said a statement.

Egyptian Energy Minister Sameh Fahmi has estimated that land pipelines would cost 200 million dollars, as opposed to 800 million dollars for undersea pipelines, AFP reported.

The originally proposed one-billion-dollar project, which would have included both land and underseas pipelines, would have imported gas from Egypt to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan for sale locally, and eventually re-export to Turkey and other European countries.

On Wednesday also, leaders of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan held talks after the inauguration ceremony to prepare the stage for the March 27 Arab summit in Amman, reported the Jordan Times newspaper.

Official sources said Wednesday's talks focused on means to coordinate steps ahead of the Arab summit, which will revolve mainly around the stalled Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, Iraq and inter-Arab economic cooperation, said the paper – Albawaba.com